It is reported they remain cautious, and will not make a bid 'unless invited to do so by Southampton'.

For Southampton to be convinced to sell Van Dijk it has been reported that it would take an offer upwards of £60 million, the Liverpool Echo reported, which would be a world record fee for a defender and Liverpool's highest spend on any individual player ever.

The transfer will ultimately depend on whether Southampton concede that selling Van Dijk for a big fee is ultimately the right decision for the club, or if they see the battle with Liverpool as just that, and having dug in this far, do not want to ultimately lose.

Liverpool are seemingly trying to repair the relations between the clubs, to give the transfer as much chance of happening as possible.

Dan Coombs

Dan Coombs has been writing for HITC Sport full time since 2012 and has helped the website grow it's audience considerably during this period, while managing a team of writers. He has interviewed high profile names including Stuart Pearce and his work has been cited in Javier Hernandez's biography. In addition to football, Dan is a big fan of the NFL and NBA.